TV Times

TV Times

Gold on plate for Dimuthu
By Poorna Rodrigo
Dimuthu never had any formal training in culinary art other than what he learnt at the hands of his brother, who is also a chef. He learnt the basics in carving and then onwards it was his own doing and hard work - that enabled him to become the first Sri Lankan to bag five gold medals at the Culinary Olympics 2004.

Dimuthu Kumarasinghe, Group Skill Development Chef at Aitken Spence Hotels says culinary art is a field where one needs “commitment and creativity” more than anything else and can make it to the top.

There are several reasons why Dimuthu’s feat is so amazing. Originating in 1990 and held every four years, the Culinary Olympics is an event that draws the Crème de la crème of the culinary world and the competition is the most prestigious, the most aggressive and the most fiercely contested of all culinary competitions, the world over. This makes the fact that Dimuthu won, beating master chefs from countries like France, Germany, Switzerland with a strong cultural culinary tradition.

Dimuthu’s awards at the Olympics have been in the categories of Patisserie dessert platter, Cold food show piece, Patisserie show piece and the open event. In the first event he was required to create a festival buffet platter, of petit fours and dessert.

In the second event his task was to create a showpiece for a cold food buffet. For the Pastry Showpiece, his creation had taken a classical ballet theme, giving it an air of elegance and fineness. In the open event, he had magically created yet another centerpiece- this time, harking back to his Sri Lankan heritage and lifestyle, with the concept of the fish market, filled with life, colour and the involvement repartee between the fish sellers.

Meanwhile at a press conference held at Aitken Spence Hotel Management, Dimuthu profusely thanked the hotel management for all the support he got. Before joining Aitken Spence Group in 2001, November, Dimuthu was working abroad in Dubai for seven years at Regency Intercontinental.

Winning Olympic awards however was not the first of its kind. There are many awards that have come his way and among them are highly coveted “Outstanding Individual” Award and the “ Master Baker” award for the best overall performance in Pastry at the Emirates Salon Culinaire 1999 in Dubai and the “ Most Outstanding Artist” out of nearly one hundred chefs around the world at International Salon Culinaire 2000 in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

However for Dimuthu there are some reservations about the absence of the Sri Lankan flag when all the flags of other countries were hoisted at the Culinary Olympic.

“ May be they never thought a Sri Lankan will be able to bag any awards”, Dimuthu said with a smile. But the guy is determined to win more medals next time around at Olympics and most importantly to hoist the Sri Lankan flag.

Top